Chapter 9
Chapter 9
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Heavenly Slayer Has Become a Racist
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Bator, a member of the covert unit under the Labelion Kingdom's Intelligence Department.
He couldn't hide his shock at the wild boy standing before him.
'You noticed my presence?'
Bator wasn't particularly outstanding in raw power, but he was a veteran at tailing targets.
When conditions were right, even master-level experts couldn't detect his presence.
Naturally, it was normal for someone not to sense him.
It was just that Enoch, who had abnormally honed senses from constantly trying to detect Lione's presence, was the outlier.
Rumble—!
Thunder boomed, and a blinding light flashed before Bator's eyes.
From that brilliant violet lightning emerged a ferocious beast.
By rights, a clash of force shouldn't have happened here....
"Tch, gotta subdue him first...."
Bator immediately drew his dagger and kicked off.
Thud— With a light push against the ground, his nimble form vanished.
He kicked off the alley wall once, then a flying chunk of debris once more, and his silhouette appeared behind Enoch.
[Oh, come on.]
The spirit, locking eyes with him, clicked her tongue.
[Why are you so bad at fighting!]
As his mind reeled, the ground beneath his feet lit up.
His startled gaze dropped downward.
A magic circle. In a split-second judgment, he launched himself away.
Flash—!
Lightning surged skyward, searing one of his feet.
"Urgh...!"
Bator gritted his teeth against the pain and looked ahead.
The boy was charging.
The lightning gathered in his hand was clearly a form of hand qi.
Bator hastily coated his dagger with sword qi.
Sword qi and hand qi.
Both were techniques that amplified destructive power using mana.
And they were symbols as well.
Symbols of experts—the knights' realm—and the starting point of superhumans.
'An expert at that age, and he even uses magic?'
Realm aside, it was a familiar technique.
Perhaps the kingdom's judgment was correct.
Bator cursed his own ignorance for dismissing it as absurd.
"Hup...!"
Clenching his teeth, Bator desperately swung his dagger.
Enoch responded simply.
Squeeze—
Two fingers hooked like a claw, yanking the dagger toward him.
An open torso.
Horrific lightning gathered in the other hand, shining brilliantly.
"W-Wait...!"
As Bator desperately tried to shout,
"Enoch."
All murderous intent vanished from Enoch's eyes.
In an instant, the round-eyed, adorable Enoch toddled over and hugged the voice's owner.
"Lione?"
"What's going on?"
"That guy was tailing us."
Enoch pointed at Bator.
Bator steadied his numb body and barely bowed his head.
"W-Wait a moment...! It's a misunderstanding!"
The Sword Duchess was considered mild among superhumans.
In case of emergency, he had been instructed to reveal his identity.
Catching his breath, Bator continued.
"I am Bator from the kingdom's Intelligence Department. We received information that the Sword Duchess had taken a human disciple, so just in case...."
Lione cut him off.
"Tell the king."
"...Yes."
"If you touch Enoch, it's war."
The Sword Duchess had left her family.
It was an arrogant declaration to challenge a kingdom single-handedly, but Bator couldn't dare speak up.
Even setting aside her proven prowess, his body physically wouldn't move.
It felt like every bit of air around him had turned into swords aimed at him.
Only after the Sword Duchess released the pressure could Bator finally speak.
"...Yes."
"Get lost."
Bator obeyed immediately.
Once the man was gone, Undine pounded on Lione's arm in the wrecked alley.
[Lione! Lione!]
"What's wrong.... My head already hurts."
[That's not the point right now! Enoch, that kid! What the hell have you been teaching him!?]
Lione furrowed her brow.
What have I been teaching him?
She had seen the whole thing, so what was this about?
[Do you know what that brat just said?]
The spirit spilled every word she had heard.
How this insolent little punk had spouted racist remarks as naturally as breathing...!
Hearing it all, Lione was utterly appalled.
"Enoch...!?"
Enoch knew it too.
That this wasn't something to be praised for.
So he mumbled excuses.
"No.... I mean, humans are inferior, right?"
"Enoch......!!??!"
Lione looked like she might faint on the spot.
The child she had raised with such care, spewing racist nonsense...!
And Enoch himself was human!
"E-Enoch...! Racism is bad."
"...Elves are way superior to humans, though."
"No! Humans are plenty talented too! Look at the continent—humans hold the most territory!"
Even if that was the achievement of one single person, not the race.
Still, humans did control the largest territory.
And Lione was the one who had taught Enoch that.
"That's because the emperor is exceptional, not humans."
"Ah...."
"Elves have much higher mana affinity and spirit affinity."
"Eugh...."
"Physically superior too."
"Hnng...!"
"And way better-looking. The race of beauty."
Had Enoch always been this eloquent...?
Lione, in full panic, just flapped her mouth wordlessly.
No.
This wasn't the time.
She had to properly admonish Enoch.
"S-Still, Enoch. Take you, for example—you're human, but way better than other elves. At your age, I couldn't do a thing!"
"That's because I'm exceptional, not because I'm human."
"Ah...."
It was true, but....
Lione's eyes began to lose focus and tremble.
There's nothing I can say to that...!
And that was his opening.
Enoch, sharp as ever, landed the finishing blow.
"Humans don't even live a hundred years. Elves, beastkin, dragons—even those short little dwarves live hundreds."
"...What? That puppy I raised back in the day lived over a hundred...."
No, wait.
She couldn't let herself be persuaded.
"A-Anyway, Enoch! We're all intelligent beings. We live together, so that kind of view isn't good."
"Humans keep kidnapping elves, so relations aren't great."
"......"
What have I been teaching this kid...?
Come to think of it, most of Enoch's common knowledge came from Lione.
She realized her education methods had a massive problem.
"No.... Hold on. Humans don't even live a hundred years?"
She hadn't taught him that.
In fact, Lione herself hadn't known.
Human lifespans weren't some big secret, but Lione had zero interest in humans, so she'd never bothered.
She didn't even know the lifespan of honey squirrels in the forest—why would she know humans'?
"Ah."
Enoch realized his slip and shut his mouth.
"Ugh...."
Lione clutched her complicated head.
Anyway, the priority now was Enoch's moral education.
"Enoch, you can't discriminate like that. If I suddenly became powerless and useless, would you ignore and discriminate against me?"
"No...."
"And honestly, elves aren't that superior either. Just look at dragons."
Dragons did tend to look down on other races for that reason.
"Anyway.... This is a problem."
Lione regretted her past dismissive comments about dwarves.
Elves and dwarves had bad historical relations, so it was a habit to toss those out casually.
Maybe that's what led Enoch to these thoughts.
"Enoch, come with me."
Lione resolved herself.
She'd buy books on racism at the bookstore, study up, and guide Enoch's thinking straight.
But the tight-lipped Enoch had made a different resolution.
Dragons superior to elves?
Unacceptable.
Make elves great.
If dragons were superior to elves, he'd just overturn that.
Then ignoring other races wouldn't really be racism, right?
[...What a mess this is.]
Haa....
The spirit watching from the side could only sigh as if the world were ending.
*
Back in the forest, Lione immediately put all other lessons on hold.
The top priority now was character education!
If Enoch veered further down this twisted path, he could become a public enemy of the continent!
As she studied racism and human knowledge, she picked up new facts.
'Oh, humans consider 20 as adulthood?'
Elves didn't have a fixed age.
Once you did the coming-of-age rite, you were an adult; even without it, around that time counted.
Very early was around 80, late was usually 150, so over 150 was adult—something like that.
There wasn't much special about becoming an adult anyway; just do it before marriage—that was the elven mindset.
'And most humans don't even awaken to mana.... Is this for real?'
Lione tilted her head.
The aunties in her village layered sword qi on kitchen knives and sometimes sword beams— it didn't click.
That elf passing by is an expert, that one over there is a master.
Wasn't that normal?
She kept reading like that, and surprisingly, it hooked her—she pulled an all-nighter.
The next day.
"Um.... Elves might be a bit superior to humans...?"
[Hey! You lunatic!]
*
"Ahem. Anyway, Enoch. You can't divide people by value like that. Sure, there might be priorities in terms of military power or national systems, but every person is a precious life."
"Mm...."
Enoch seemed not to fully get it, but Lione wasn't too worried.
With over a hundred years left....
"Huh...!?"
Oh no.
Enoch was 13 now.
Humans reach adulthood at 20.
She only had 7 years left to teach Enoch...!